Nothing makes us happier than being able to announce brand new bike lanes on Hoover Street from 120th Street to 98th Street!

This is a good little stretch providing close to 2 miles of bikes lanes (if you want to be technical it is 1.64 miles of bikes lanes; really precisely, 8,670 feet of bike lanes). The new bikes lanes provide a great connection to two Metro Green Line stations: Vermont Station at Vermont and the 105, and Harbor Freeway Station at the 105 and 110 interchange.

One end of the lane

Love that fresh paint.

These bike lanes were installed in tandem with a measure designed to make Hoover safer for bicyclists: a road diet. From 98th down to 120th, Hoover has been reduced from a 4 lane roadway to a 2 lane road with a median turning lane. Compare this pre-bike lane google maps image of Hoover with what it looks like today. The amount of traffic on Hoover didn’t justify having 4 lanes, and we could slim Hoover down to 2 lanes without effecting the street’s Level of Service (LOS). The stretch of Hoover from 98th to 120th is almost entirely residential, and the types of speeds that a 4 lane road encourages can often be unsafe. Hoover is a 2 lane road below 120th , so we look at this road diet as simply providing the same level of traffic safety above 120th as is enjoyed below. By putting Hoover on a road diet, we’ve created room for bike lanes, encouraged cars to drive more slowly, and made Hoover safer for pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers alike.

4 lanes become 2!

Unfortunately, the new Hoover bike lanes are supposed to connect at their other end with existing bike lanes along 98th street. I say “unfortunately” because there aren’t any bike lanes there anymore. The signs are there, but the lane paint has worn away over time. Our first priority after completing the installation along Hoover is to line up a contractor to repaint the lanes along 98th. Every extra mile of bike lane is a battle to get installed and we aren’t going to give up on lanes that we already have.

98th st. We've got some work to do.

(Ed. Note: Joe Linton did a great post on the Hoover Bike Lanes at almost the same time we did. Here’s his take on it.)